


Heat Stroke

by orphan_account



Series: Criminal Mind Rambles [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 08:57:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14766512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: There was only one ending to stories like these.





	Heat Stroke

A loud crash woke Aaron up from his sleep, and he shot straight up from his desk at his house. He blinked a couple times to adjust his focus and he looked to his clock. July 15th, 12:30 am. 

He looked around his room confused, a frown present on his face as he chewed on his lip. What the hell caused that crash? Had he knocked something other when asleep at his desk? Hotch looked around the desk of his and found nothing knocked over, everything was as normal before he fell asleep several hours before. He decided to look around the house too, checking outside, checking his alarms, checking on Jack and everything seemed normal as before. So what the hell caused the loud crash from before still remained a mystery.

Even at such an ungodly hour, the humidity was still overwhelming. He got up and shut his window, turning on the fan on his nightstand. He was still in his work clothes, though the tie was discarded onto the desk and the first two buttons on his shirt were opened. He sighed at the tiredness that crept back onto him, and flopped onto his bed, ignoring the paperwork at his desk and trying to get some rest.

\--

The case was a simpler one than usual, a series of kidnappings of brunette women who are on the same college campus. Aaron and Reid were out walking to a family of their most recent victim, Jessica Smith. Her family lived in a small apartment building, crowded with skyscrapers and construction, Aaron felt unnerved from just the constant noise of it and the hanging platform of pipes suspended over the sidewalk, how did people act like it was nothing?

Aaron had left his jacket behind at the station, and Spencer’s cardigan sleeves were rolled up. It was about 12:30 in the afternoon when they arrived at the building. They stood out front while going over information, and discussing the game plan, but Reid was more focused on this girl that was walking towards them.

“She was last seen- Reid?” Hotch frowned when he saw Spencer staring at the said girl, then looking over to her too. The girl had looked a lot like Jessica, but she had been wearing sunglasses to cover some of her face. Before Aaron could speak to him, Reid was already stopping her as she walked by. The beep of the crosswalk had snapped Hotch out of his daze, and he looked to it.

“Hey- Can I ask your name?” Reid blurted while looking concerned. The girl seemed to panic a bit, before shaking her head and running across the crosswalk, Spencer taking off after her. 

Aaron’s eyes widened and he shouted out to Spencer, but it was too late. There was loud screeching of tires, and then Spencer’s loud screams ripped through the construction and the world seemed to freeze. Aaron stood still for a moment, his brain trying to process what just happened, and before he knew it he was taking off for Spencer’s body. He fell to his knees in front of him and lifted him up, tears stinging in his eyes as he shook his head, panicking when he didn’t feel a pulse anywhere on the younger one's body. 

The heat of the day intensified the smell of Spencer’s cologne and his bloody mess, leaving Hotch choking for air while he shouted for someone to call 911 as a crowd started to form around him. He felt dizzy and his vision started to wave in and out. He looked around the crowd at the girl and saw her smiling, not a normal smile, no. Something horrible twisted and wicked, and all sound seemed to cut out at that moment before he heard her gently whisper to him.

“This is all real, Aaron Hotchner,” And with that, Aaron’s vision had faded into black.

\--

He woke up back in his room, his body jolting up from sleeping in his chair at his desk. He looked to the clock on his desk, it read July 15th, 12:30 am. 

Aaron got up from his desk and shut the window to his room, the humidity suffocating him as he turned on the fan on his nightstand, freezing when the horrific image of Spencer’s mangled and bloody body flashed into his head. He closed his eyes and exhaled a long breath, trying to ignore the traumatic dream he just had. With his head swimming, he laid onto his bed, not bothering to kick off his shoes or change out of his work clothes into anything else, he didn’t have the energy to do anything.

“This is all real,” Aaron mumbled, trying to figure out the meaning of what he said. It had made no sense, he shook his head and closed his eyes, the tiredness of him taking over as he fell asleep peacefully.

\--

Aaron and Spencer were off to ask the family of their newest victim and the older male seemed on edge because of it, Spencer could tell. He frowned and tried to figure out what it was, but he couldn’t seem to put a finger on it. Had Reid done something to upset his boss? The older male had hardly talked to any of his team today, which was definitely weird. He was only half listening to the details when he saw a girl walking towards them, and she fit the description of their recent victim correctly. He had asked the girl her name, and instead of telling him, she ran off across the street. He went to go after her, before Hotch had grabbed his wrist and stopped him, watching the girl ran off. 

“Let's go back. We’ll tell the team what we saw,” Aaron’s voice was hard, and Spencer didn’t want to put up a fight with him, so he swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and nodded quickly, not making a peep to the other. 

Aaron, on the other hand, was close to freaking out as the two of them walked towards the direction of their parked SUV, but he stopped Spencer from being hit by the truck, so he felt a bit better. Reid trailed behind his boss a significant amount, lost in thought as he tried to figure out why the other was acting so off today. The sound of wires snapping and the clanging pipes brought Aaron from his own thoughts. He turned back to Spencer, and Spencer didn’t seem to notice. A shadow formed around Spencer, and Aaron’s eyes widened. He closed his eyes to blink and heard the sound of something sharp piercing flesh, and when he opened his eyes, there was a large iron rod sticking out of his younger friend. 

Spencer’s eyes were wide as blood trickled down his mouth, ear-piercing screams coming from him as it mixed with the sound of other poles clattering. Aaron was overwhelmed with everything that was happening at once, his eyes widened as his breath choked in his throat, running towards the pile of metal and his friend laying in the middle, The girl from earlier stepped in front of him, and he went to push her out of the way, but she shoved him to the ground. She stared at him with that twisted smile, laughing loudly at him and walking to him, grabbing his collar and pulling him to be face to face, her laughing cutting through his ears. 

“This is all real, Aaron Hotchner!” She shouted at him, before drawing her fist back. He was too in shock to process any of her moves, and she hurled her hand forward, causing him to black out before she made contact with his face. 

It seemed to be a never-ending nightmare, one death after another. The family shooting Spencer during an interview, Spencer being shot in the streets, the Unsub getting to Spencer and killing him. One was more horrific than the other, all of them played in his head, repeating every single incident, taunting him and cackling at him as he begged for it all to stop, screaming so much it made his lungs and throat burn. Aaron couldn’t figure it out, what could he do to save him. It all occurred the same time and day, July 15th, 12:30 in the afternoon. Aaron dreaded to be at that time, his blood running cold every time the clock struck at that time. What could he do? Then it had hit him while he was going over plans, and he smiled when Spencer asked the girl for her name.

These stories only end one way.

Aaron grabbed onto Spencer’s wrist when he tried to run forward, and shoved him back, running after the girl and straight into traffic. He heard Spencer’s scream behind him, and everything went black the next second. When he came too, his ears were ringing and it was hard to see, but he was staring at Spencer as the other screamed orders, tears streaming down his face and his clothes bloody. Hotch looked around the crowd for the girl, smiling when she was looking at them in shock.

Serves you right. Was all Aaron could think about, his smile dropping the next second. The Unsub stepped up next to the girl, the same twisted smile on his face as the girls from previous meetings, and Aaron could hardly keep his eyes open anymore, starting to fade from consciousness as his vision blackened, only hearing one last thing. 

“This is all real, Spencer Reid.”

Spencer jolted up from his seat as the others shouted his name, Aaron hovering over him with concern written all over his face. Tears covered the young boys face as he looked at everyone with wide eyes, his heart racing so hard he thought it was going to burst from his chest. His boss’s voice had cut him from his thoughts, his head snapping to the source, “Are you alright?”

Reid managed a nod and leaned back in his chair as he looked out the window, wiping his tears as he closed his eyes, trying to relax and letting out a long breath. 

He failed this time, too. He couldn’t save Aaron.


End file.
